Regeneration Records: A Retrospective

Regeneration as it is today

No, not Generation Records in the East Village.  REgeneration in Allston Village.  Regen opened in 2004 as Regeneration Records & Tattoo, with half of the store dedicated to records, zines and other merch, and the other half set up as a tattoo parlor.  They booked shows regularly before closing,  renovating and reopening as Regeneration Tattoo in late 06/early 07.  This post is going to reflect on shows and record shopping at Regeneration Records & Tattoo.

As it was

Don't ever start a blog.  I just spent 15 minutes switching the order of these pics to maximize the dramatic before/after effect, and cut+pasting my text to correlate.  Anyway, the above pic shows Regen the record store taken from a similar perspective as the first pic, facing the front door.  You can see the couch in the background on the left, which was across from the cashier.  Pretty much every time I stopped by, there would be people chilling on the couch just hanging out.  It was a cool atmosphere that you only get at an independent record store.  I am surprised that major music chains never put a couple of couches or chairs in their stores to try and replicate that feeling.  It's the same sort of setting Starbucks stole from independentt coffee shops and they did pretty well by it.

Co-owner Ross sang for this sweet band in like 99/2000.  Crusty hardcore punk with an almost NYHC style groove

Regen came along at a perfect time for me.  I was a freshman in college and it gave me a cool place to go and continue my punk rock obsession in the city.  It was great for everyone though -- Boston's previous punk record store Second Coming was no more and Regen regularly booked awesome shows, making it one of the few punk destinations in the city.  For a while, anyway.  Noise complaints forced them to stop doing shows in June 2006 and the record store and shows were gone by the end of the year.  It was sad to see the record store and shows go, but at least the business itself is still there and hasn't become a cupcake shop like Second Coming.

Shopping at Regen was awesome they had a good selection of new records, used records, and the occasional oddball DIY release.  I used to be really into old school emo, and I found lots of out of print stuff there, like the Navio Forge 12" and the first Lincoln 7" for like $6 and $3 respectively.  Emo fans can get away with cheaper prices for their rare emo records at a lot of punk record stores because emo remains a pretty obscure genre for most people, and the records tend to be obscure enough anyway, so they aren't under the same sort of scrutiny as, say, a 1st press Warzone 7".  Of course, record stores that scour ebay to determine their prices are beginning to have an idea.

Navio Forge.  Listen to the dude actually cry at 5:15 in true emo fashion

Great, moshy hardcore but there's something else going on here.  Listen to those drums.  

Play this for anyone who questions emo's hardcore origins.

You hate to look at CDs when you're going record shopping, occasionally I made some great discoveries. In the used bin I found an Excessive Force CD, and one day Zack and I were browsing and immediately noticed a CD that had a Confederate Flag/swastika design.  Turns out it was a CD reissue of an old early 80s Louisiana punk band called Toxin III.  This is some damn good punk, bouncy and catchy with an incredible singer.  Again, listen to those drums.

Do this, do that, I've had enough of that

Then listen to these drums:

You said you'd always be true, but you're a weak 

motherfucker and you never had it in you.

As for shows, I remember lots of great local bands like Blank Stare, Fruit Salad, Mind Eraser.  September 2005, Toxic Narcotic played and it was insane.  One of my favorite bands and the critical band during my middle school years (as well as the TN/Unseen split being the first 7" I ever bought, but that is for another entry).  It was my first time seeing them.  They were supposed to play on Cape Cod in like '99 or 2000, but they did not show.  I tried to see them another time around then in Boston, but the show got shut down before they could play.  So when it finally happened, I went nuts.  Hands down one of my favorite shows ever.

I am third from the right

May 31, 2006 was Unholy Grave (Japanese grind) and Magrudergrind.  Zack and I got to the show early and were hanging out outside alone.  My obsession at that time was Infest, and I couldn't stop listening to "Where's The Unity."  I said to Zack, wouldn't it be awesome if Magrudergrind covered that song.  Shortly after, the singer from Unholy Grave came up to ask and asked us where's the nearest Chinese food.  A little while later, Magrudergrind plays and the singer lets us know, "This is a cover."  And they immediately start playing "Where's the Unity?"  It was so bizarre and will always stick out to me as one of those weird, cosmic moments and my favorite memory of Regen.

A few years ago, Armageddon Records opened up a shop in Harvard Square, so the city once again has a cool place to hang out and check out our kind of music.  I hear good things about Regeneration Tattoo and maybe I'll get my LIFE IS WAS PAIN tattoo there when all is said and done.  Honestly I don't know if the same people are at Regeneration Tattoo, but if they are I wish them the best and hope they look back on the record store years with the same fondness I do (probably not).

Thinking of something good for next post.  Till next time...